Well, you may want to reconsider as it may not be the smartest thing to tell the world when you’re going on vacation and when you’re coming back. You never know who might see your posts and use that information to plan a break-in and steal everything you own.

If you really want to share your trip, save it for when you get back. Rather than uploading your photos in real-time, wait until you’re safe at home and upload everything at once. It’s less exciting, I know, but it’s also safer.

And this advice doesn’t just hold for vacations. Think twice before you announce that you’re going out to dinner or staying over at a friends. Paranoid? Maybe, but you never know.

2. Geolocation and Check-Ins

We all know that smartphones can track our GPS coordinates, but did you know that your browser can also track where you are? That’s how social networks like Twitter and Facebook are able to know where you are when you post new tweets or status updates. This is called geolocation.

By extension, you should never give out your physical address or phone numbers through social media — even if you think the communication method is private. Data breaches and account hackers are all too common these days.

And lastly, avoid using the check-in feature that some social apps provide. It might seem cool to let your friends and family know where you are at any given time, but I’m not convinced that the risks are worth it.

3. Privileged Inside Information

It’s not uncommon for people on social media to accidentally post private information through public channels, and most of the time the repercussions are minor — but you have to be particularly careful when that information is business related.

I feel like I broke my NDA by tweeting about the corn soup. The ninjas are probably on their way.

For example, if you signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement (also known as a Confidentiality Agreement), it doesn’t only apply to formal modes of communication. Spilling confidential details on social media — even accidentally — is not something you want to be caught doing.

The same holds true if you’re privy to inside information at work: who’s going to be laid off next week, what kind of strategy your company will have for the new year, etc. If you aren’t authorized to share it, you really can’t share it. Otherwise you may find yourself in legal trouble.

4. Complaints and Rants

Speaking of the workplace, it’s important that you don’t air your grievances on social media either. If you want to complain about your boss or coworkers, social media is not where you want to do it. It’s just too likely that someone will see it.

5. Self-Incriminating Evidence

Not everything you see on social media is legal. And while it’s one thing to get fined or fired over a joke or incendiary comment, it’s something else entirely to break the law and leave the evidence on your account for all to see.

You probably won’t see any truly heinous crimes on Facebook or Twitter, but it’s not hard to find incidents where people laugh about driving drunk or taking selfies while on the highway. And there are also people who take photos of their marijuana stashes, their illegal firearms, and even cash that they’ve stolen.

6. Expensive New Purchases

Here’s another thing that people love to brag about on social media: shiny new toys! Whether you just got a new phone, tablet, laptop, Amazon Echo, car, house, or whatever else — maybe you’re so excited that you can’t help but post it online. But there are two reasons why you shouldn’t do that.

The second reason is more practical: when you tell the world that you have a shiny new toy, some people may want to steal it from you or take advantage of you in some way. An extreme case would be announcing that you won the lottery — and you know how that would go, don’t you?

7. Giving Personal Advice

We’ve all seen it before: people who are sick and ask for home remedy tips on Facebook, or people who have gotten themselves into a bind and tweet for possible legal advice. Both are extremely common on sites like Reddit as well.

But no matter how tempted you might be, and no matter how sure of yourself you might be, it’s in everyone’s best interest — including your own — that you don’t give medical or legal advice to people over social media. This is true even if you’re a doctor or lawyer.

The key point is that you simply don’t know all of the facts. If someone is sick or in trouble, they should get professional help. This also applies to advice on exercise, weight loss, diet, finance, relationships, etc. Best to stay quiet on all of that.

8. Scams, Invites, and Giveaways

Social networks are prime targets for things like giveaways and contests, mainly because it’s so darn easy to click “Share” and not think twice about it. However, if that describes you, then you may want to pump your brakes and reconsider.

Social media is as salty as a margarita this morning after they all found out that lotto giveaway link was a scam. ???????? #welcometoreality

First of all, if you’re constantly sharing giveaways, contests, and invites to Facebook games, there’s a good chance that you’re annoying every one of your friends (at least the ones who haven’t yet blocked you). It’s spammy at best, shady at worst.

9. Anything You May Regret Later

You may think this last one is a cop-out because it’s a blanket catch-all for anything not yet covered, but if there’s one rule that you live by on social media, let it be this one: never post anything that you wouldn’t want the whole world to see.

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Guv

February 22, 2017 at 10:18 pm

Nice Post! Especially the fact that you mentioned while on vacation, it's really not advisable to share that kind of news on social because it helps when someone is trying to use your identity or use you credit card for fraudulent purchases.

And how on earth could anyone get hold of my bookmarks? Asides from hacking my computer, online-account somewhere or anything else breaking in-related that can be difficult to defend. Do you mean that your computer/phone/tablet is open to everyone and that you don't lock it or use a password? In my opinion this is just begging for something to happen.
And besides bookmarks, there are millions of other ways to profile you without bookmarks. For exampe just follow the cookie crumbs (which most sites can do) that you leave all around you wherever you happen to surf.

Or instead of broadcasting your life via social media, just use direct communication. I use Twitter to subscribe to my favorite celebs, but I don't tweet myself. I use email to talk to my old friends from all over the world. I use instant messaging to chat. And I use Signal to send encrypted, ahem, sexts to my wife.

Funny that you all talk about not sharing Give Away links via social but (unless I'm mistaken) don't you all ask to share links to your Give Aways each time you do one? Not complaining since I share mine only to communities on G+ (if the contest isn't already shared there) or on my profile (sparingly) but I just had to LOL at that one you should NEVER do listed here

Haha, good point Paul! It's fine to participate in giveaways like that. However, you should be cautious every time. If you let your guard down, you might end up sharing a scam-in-disguise, and nobody wants that! If you know that a giveaway is safe (like ours), then feel free to share it.